VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Ministry of Transportation, through the Directorate General of Air Transportation, has announced that the Kertajati International Airport in Majalengka District, West Java, will be open to all aircraft from across the world.

"We have announced to the world that the new Kertajati International Airport will serve flights from around the world," Air Transportation Director General Agus Santoso remarked after attending a coordination meeting at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs here on Friday.

Santoso explained that according to the initial plan, Kertajati Airport will be used as an embarkation point for West Java`s Hajj pilgrims in July 2018.

"Hence, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has coordinated on some related matters with the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Religious Affairs," Santoso remarked.

Santosa explained that with regard to handling flights, the airport is 100 percent ready, including the runway, taxiway, apron, monitoring tower, and passenger air bridge.

In the meantime, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan, better known as Aher, expressed optimism that the Kertajati International Airport would become operational as scheduled in April 2018.

He revealed that the progress in work of the Kertajati Airport project was not hindered and delayed.

"So far, no hindrance was encountered in the construction process," the governor stated, adding that the first phase of the airport`s construction will cost some Rp2.6 trillion.

Earlier, Kertajati Airport was planned to have only one runway, with a capacity to handle 5.6 million passengers per year, and was expected to serve as an alternative for the citizens of West Java and parts of Central Java.

In accordance with the master plan, the airport, built on an area of some 1.8 thousand hectares, will have two runways, with a length of 3.5 thousand meters and three thousand meters respectively, to accommodate wide-bodied Boeing 747 and Boeing 777 aircraft (antara)

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), accompanied by Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, will attend the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Sydney, Australia on March 18, ASEAN External Cooperation Director Benny Siahaan said in Jakarta, on Thursday ( 8 March )

"The ASEAN-Australia Special Summit that will be attended by Jokowi on March 18 is aimed at pushing for strategic cooperation between Australia and ASEAN," he stated.

He noted that the meeting would be a special one as it would be the first between heads of member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations held outside ASEAN member countries.

He added that several programs to be held at the special summit include ASEAN-Australia business summit, disaster management, engagement, economic partnership, and counter-terrorism partnership meetings.

The main documents to be produced from the summit are Sydney Declaration and Counter-Terrorism memorandum of understanding (MoU).

Sydney declaration is a document that will be adopted by ASEAN and Australian heads of states and governments containing commitment to ASEAN and Australia action plan.

The counter-terrorism MoU will contain concrete cooperation steps between Australia and ASEAN in overcoming terrorism. It will be signed by the ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and witnessed by heads of states and governments of ASEAN and Australia. (antara)

 Indonesia is ready to retaliate if the administration of the US President Donald Trump conducts a trade war against the country, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla stated on Thursday ( 8 March ).

"If he hinders the entry of our crude palm oil into the US, we will certainly also reduce our soybean and wheat flour imports from that country. It will be like that. We import soybean, corn, Boeing aircraft, and wheat. How many aircraft have we even bought from there?" he noted at the Institute of Police Science in Jakarta. 

He remarked that foreign countries will challenge the trade war policy implemented by President Trump.

President Trump had triggered a trade war with foreign countries by imposing a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports on grounds of protecting domestic products of the United States.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani has warned of the potential of a trade war if the US government really imposes tariffs on the imports of steel and aluminum.

"World history has demonstrated that the impact of a trade war on the global economy would be devastating," she pointed out.

Mulyani noted that the world is awaiting certainty on the plan that has the potential to trigger retaliation from countries sharing trade relations with the United States through tariffs. (antara)

The Indonesian government has committed to reducing plastic waste in its maritime areas, Expert Staff for Marine Ecology and Marine Resources of the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries minister, Aryo Hanggono stated. "The government will reduce plastic waste up to 70 percent by 2025," he remarked in Jakarta on Thursday ( 8 March ).

Currently, he noted that a draft of the presidential regulation on the management of plastic waste at sea was being formulated to ensure coordination between the central and local governments. He also reminded that banana peels took two weeks to decompose, while plastic bags took 10-20 years to decompose, and plastic bottles took hundreds of years to decompose. In addition, he remarked that several studies also indicated that if no significant changes are brought about, the ratio of plastic to fish in the oceans is expected to reach three is to one by 2025, and the oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of Kehati Foundation M. S. Sembiring pointed out that Indonesia has the largest biodiversity in the world.

Earlier, Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti stated that the volume of marine biomass in the nation`s maritime areas had risen significantly after the implementation of the government`s policy to ban the entry of foreign ships into Indonesian waters.

"The volume of biomass in the sea has risen up to 300 percent. The production of capture fisheries has increased, as foreign ships have been barred from entering Indonesian waters," she remarked here on Wednesday (Feb 28).

According to Pudjiastuti, following a moratorium on the issuance of licenses to former foreign fishing vessels, more than seven thousand ships have left the Indonesian state waters.  She expressed belief that the issuance of licenses to foreign vessels to buy fishing concessions in the territorial waters of Indonesia was a wrong decision. Pudjiastuti noted that the eradication of illegal fishing practices held significance, as a form of law enforcement and state sovereignty, since it benefits the country economically (antara)